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Film Critique: American Beauty

Pages: 2 (511 words)Published: May 5, 2013

American Beauty - SummaryAmerican Beauty is a 1999 film about the life of a husband and father, whose mid-life crisis suddenly makes him aware of his pathetic and fake existence. As a matter of fact, he is married to a woman who he has loved, but by this time that feeling has changed into a fake and sad reproduction of itself. Even the relationship with the daughter reveals the protagonist’s failure to face reality and to play the role of a father. On a professional level, he is frustrated and this whole dissatisfaction gives him the semblance of a bungler loser. However, the protagonist’s pathetic and senseless life has not an end in itself, because it is the starting point from which the film begins to strip away several falsities of the American society, such as the sexual frustration shared by most of the characters, the superficiality of his wife’s life, the inconsistency of his neighbor’s ideals against homosexuals and his strong patriotism, that leads his wife to create a second reality. This is the life background of two adolescents, the protagonist’s daughter and the neighbors’ son, who are trying to face adult life even if surrounded by sad examples. The protagonist’s change of behavior, that has its origin in a morbid attraction to one of his daughter’s minor friends, disrupts the life of all the characters that are unable to accept reality. His unusual and rebel attitude aimed at restoring his lost family happiness, starts giving everybody a reason to kill him.

American Beauty - CritiqueThe movie denounces the hypocrisy of a society obsessed with an outer appearance of success but is eaten away by frustration on the inside. Here, puritanism, patriotism, empowerment, success and family are not spared. American Beauty denounces the failure of the original puritan principles. Sexual frustration, for example, touches many characters, as the protagonist, who chases after young girls, the wife who betrays her husband, and the neighbor whose...

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Final FilmCritique: Lawrence of Arabia 1962
Crystal Evans
ENG225: Introduction to Film
Instructor: Sarah Carson
Date Submitted: 10/3/2014
Contexual Information
Title: Lawrence of Arabia 1962
Director: David Lean
Cinematographer: Frederick A. Young
Major Actors:
Peter O’Toole – T.E. Lawrence
Alec Guinness – Prince Feisal
Anthony Quin – Auda Abu Tayi
Jack Hawkins – General Allenby
Omar Sharif – Sherif Ali
Claude Rain – Mr. Dryden
Year of Release: 1962
Type of Film: Epic Biographical Adventure Drama
Genre: Epic Film
Story/Plot
Story
An expert on the region, Lawrence volunteers to be sent to Arabia, a country he comes to love even more as he adopts its customs and dress. Dryden decides that Arab Bureau needs its own man on the spot, and sends Lawrence to Arabia; Lawrence decides to cross the Nefud and take Akaba, endearing him to both Arabs and British; Allenby decides to sit back and let Damascus fall apart, so he can step in and take the reins. But after experiencing the desert’s brutality firsthand, he realizes the futility of trying to change the Arabs’ squabbling nature, he abandons it. Lawrence tries to mold Arabia to suit him through his strength of character, charisma, and leadership qualities. Lawrence goes and takes Akaba, crossing the impossible-to-cross Nefud desert; he solves the Auda-Ali tribal dispute by executing the wrongdoer, his friend Gasim; he competes...

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